madame lagarde's argument is that this was out of her hands, that she merely signed off on it. but the allegation that she signed off on it a little bit too fast and too willingly. it should be pointed out that prosecutors have said there is no real case against matt and my guar -- against madame lagarde. beforeg for her to wait she learns her fate. the verdict is set for about 3:00 p.m. local time in paris, about two hours' time. genie: christine lagarde is a big name in france. there is a third big name also linked into what is just another massive financial scandal at the heart of the government. chris: the financial scandal involving a lot of high-profile and long serving business figures here in france. lagarde, a former synchronized swimming champion who went on to become a corporate lawyer and finance minister in europe. he went on to make millions buying up field companies. back in the 1990's, he threw his weight behind france juan mitterrand, but by 2007 he was supporting nicolas sarkozy, the forwho just lost his bid the presidency again in 2017. a lot of speculation a

tom: we see it with madame lagarde or frankly madame joseph cohen. i think of sallie krawcheck and how she did. my perception of it is women not so much work harder, but work smarter towards that marginal effort to gain on wall street. where are we within the investment firms right now? are the women outdoing the men? abby: i do have to disagree with you, tom. i think women work harder. they are also better prepared and we basically find women are succeeding most in categories that are easily measured, so whether it is investment research or portfolio management, where there are numbers that can measure performance, we see that women are doing quite well. one of the concerns we have had has been that we lost a whole cadre of people, if i can use that expression, post financial crisis. many of the young people, male and female, who came to wall street in the period preceding lost their jobs or industry. -- decided to leave the industry. so we are missing some of those people who should now be moving into important middle-management positions. tom: how

lagarde and domenic strauss khan out before because of a scandal as well. >> parenthetically you have other international organizations, the u.n. in great -- let's say disregard because of its failure, total failure in syria. u.n. agencies are working effectively but u.n. peacekeeping is famously ineffective. >> yes. >> and the world bank under jim kim. not exactly a major player. >> exactly. that's a good point, andrea. one of the things that will cause the imf to basically rally around christine lagarde and give her the support is not just that. we should stress it. it said she was guilty, didn't impose a sentence. her lawyer characterized it as a half victory. the reason why they will probably rally around her is they are very nervous that in the current climate with donald trump coming in as president next month having indicated he's pretty unhappy with the global order in place in recent decades there is concern that actually support from the imf from america could falter under a trump administration. if so, the imf definitely wants a strong figure at the helm that everyone can u

italian banks, the fed, and the trial taking place in france as madam lagarde details next. this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: welcome back to the european open. saudi arabia has signaled it is ready to cut oil production more than has been previously expected. cameurprise announcement after russia and other non-opec countries promised to reduce output in january. oil jumped to its highest level. russian energy minister told bloomberg's annmarie hordern that political support was critical in getting the deal through. important role has been played by the ministers, but i think the key role should be given to our leadership and i would like to especially note mr. putin's role here who has been very supportive of the deal and pushing us forward in understanding the importance and need. >> and having this political support, which i just spoke about, as has significantly helped us to put a very trustful relationship with our partners from opec and non-opec countries and especially the country of saudi arabia, with which we have a long path to walk together. annmarie: are these non-ope

putin, madame lagarde, and your interview with saudi arabia. tell me, within the ark of bloomberg news how mr. trump is playing abroad. i think it is a mystery to a lot of our viewers. i think we knew how president obama played, the majesty of the obama visit to berlin, none of that is happening. give us an update on how mr. trump is playing in europe and abroad. john: there is always a mismatch between republican leaders. when reagan came in there was a lot of fear of what he would do in europe. you can remember all of the things that happened with george w. bush. america simply is on the whole a slightly more conservative country then europe, and it takes europeans and asians time to get used to it. i think there is an element whereby certainly in the business community, a lot of the business community is gradually coming to terms with donald trump whether they voted for him or not. that has not percolated as far as t side of the atlantic as in some ways it should. to some extent i think you should judge donald trump by what he does rather th

jonathan: the verdict from a french court, madame lagarde was not negligent in a decision on arbitration according to the court. accused story is direct of negligence and an arbitration case that resulted in the french state paying 400 million euros to the french tycoon. lagarde apparently according to the court was not negligent in a 2007 decision on arbitration. huge: it is not a surprise. it would've been a bigger story if it went the other way. the prosecutor would -- was saying she should not have been prosecuted. why are they prosecuted when should?s saying she should? jonathan: she was and the court decided she was not negligent in 2007 in a case on arbitration to end. that wraps of that story. we will bring you the update in the next hour. back to the markets, you set up your portfolio. with all of this in mind, sovereign income, equity, how much do get the mix right now? level, we do think everything going on particularly in the u.s. could extend to the cycle even more and we could get an acceleration and growth. will been waiting for 3% forever and we kept ratcheting down. we a